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瘦死的駱駝比馬大

简瘦死的骆驼比马大 · 繁瘦死的駱駝比馬大

Mandarin · pinyin shòu sǐ de luò tuo bǐ mǎ dà

lit. even a scrawny camel is bigger than a horse (idiom)
fig. even after suffering a loss, a rich person is still better off than ordinary people
a cultured person may come down in the world, but he is still superior to the common people

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Characters in this entry

瘦: shòu · thin, emaciated, lean; meager
死: sǐ · die; dead; death
的: de · possessive, adjectival suffix
駱: Look up this written character
駝: Look up this written character
比: bǐ · to compare, liken; comparison; than; hexagram ䷇
馬: Look up this written character
大: dà · big, great, vast, large, high
骆: luò · a white horse with black mane; a camel
驼: tuó · a camel; humpbacked; to carry on the back
马: mǎ · horse; surname; Kangxi radical 187

Written characters and their own readings; the entry’s pronunciation is shown above.

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Mandarin tones

4–3–5–4–5–3–3–4 · shou4 si3 de5 luo4 tuo5 bi3 ma3 da4

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 2 senses

Wiktionary English definitions · Chinese section

Independent source senses for this spelling, with usage labels retained. Not matched to the pronunciation above.

proverb

(figurative) Although a rich family has become less rich than previous, they are still richer than a poor family.
(figurative) Although someone/something is inferior compared with oneself's past or fellows, the one is still better than people/things of one's inferior rank.

Source page · dump 2026-09-02 · Contributors & history

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